Tag Archives: Brazil

March 12, 2016 – During the week of March 7 – 11, 2016, Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan E. Méndez participated in the 31st Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva. During the Session, the Special Rapporteur presented his latest thematic report on gender perspectives on torture and engaged in an interactive dialogue on his recent activities and other topics related to his mandate, including recent country visits to Brazil, Georgia, Ghana, and Mauritania. The Special Rapporteur held a press conference and participated in thematic side-events alongside UN colleagues, State delegates, and civil society partners in Geneva. The side-events explored the topics of children deprived of liberty, gender perspectives and torture, and Guantanamo Bay, among other topics.

14 August 2015 – On August 14, 2015, Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan E. Méndez concluded a 12-day official visit to Brazil, where he conducted unannounced visits to places of detention such as police stations, pre-trial facilities, penitentiaries, juvenile detention centers, as well as mental health institutions. At the end of the visit the Special Rapporteur called on the Brazilian federal and state authorities to urgently address the issue of prison overcrowding in the country and show genuine commitment to implement measures against torture. “Many of the facilities visited are severely overcrowded,” he stated, explaining that “this leads to chaotic conditions inside the facilities, and greatly impacts on the living conditions of inmates and their access to legal defense, health care, psycho-social support, work and education opportunities.” The Special Rapporteur further noted that he received credible testimonies from inmates of torture and ill-treatment by police during arrest and interrogation, and expressed concern about “the absence of a robust policy to deal with occurrences of torture, the lack of accountability for them, and the likelihood that this state of affairs will perpetuate, and even exacerbate this practice, both in number and severity.” The Special Rapporteur will present a final report on the visit to Brazil to the Human Rights Council in March 2016. To read the Special Rapporteur’s end-of-visit statement, please visit the OHCHR website. To learn more about the visit and follow-up activities, please visit our page dedicated to the Brazil visit.